Science Process Skills


Processes of Science/Science Skills/ Science Practices

 

1. Observation  - the process of collecting or receiving information using the senses or the scientific instruments.

 

2. Classifying – the process we use when we sort objects or events into groups.  It allows us to form conclusions from observations of multiple events, and is essential in identifying variables as children form hypotheses and design experimental procedures.

 

3. Communicating – the process we use to let people know what we are doing and what we are thinking.  It can take many forms in addition to language.  Accurate and complete communication is essential in scientific investigations.

 

4. Measuring – the process used to find quantitative information about objects and events, to find the effects of something we do, and to compare objects and events with other objects or events.

 

5. Predicting – the scientific process we use when we offer our best guess as to what will happen as a result of some action.

 

6. Inferring – the process we use when we try to figure out what caused something to happen, but where we can’t observe the cause directly.

 

7. Identifying and controlling variables – the scientific process we use when we list the factors (variables) that might have an influence on an investigation.  We then select one of the variables and figure out ways to keep the other variables unchanged (constant).

 

8. Formulating and testing hypotheses – the process where you predict what you suppose will happen to one variable if you change a different variable in the same experiment.

 

9. Interpreting data – the process by which we decide what data we want to gather, how we will collect that data, organize it and use it to make valid conclusions.

 

10. Defining operationally – a process to define a variable that cannot be measured or easily seen in terms that everyone agrees with.

 

11. Experimenting - the scientific process in which we carefully plan and carry out an activity that allows us investigate the effect of changing one variable on the change in a different variable.  When we experiment we use most of the other processes.

 

12. Constructing models – the scientific process we use to build accurate visual or mathematical representations of objects or concepts that we cannot see or measure directly.

 

Elementary Science Methods, A Constructivist Approach, David Jerner Martin, 2000